[Andeh]

Yeah, I definitely liked the shorter dead stroke before things got messed up, so I'm going to try messing around with different lengths to find something that works. I'm sure that whatever the factory setting is has a good amount of tolerance built into it.

A few other oddities I noticed during this exercise so far:

On bike 1 (the one with the lockup issue), prior to doing this, the deadstroke on my rear brake was noticeably longer than the front. Also, when I would use a digital caliper to set the levers to the same distance from the grip, the silver threaded part on the reach adjuster was significantly further out than the rear brake. When setting levers to the same distance on bike 2, the reach adjuster looked the same as the front on bike 1. A spare lever I have off a totaled brake when installed on the rear of bike 1 and then set to the same distance then looks the same. No idea why 1 / 5 levers has a different reach setup, or how its even possible.

On bike 2, even after shortening the ball end to the maximum amount, there was still a fair amount of dead stroke. The pads on that bike are much more worn and the bleed is a lot older (but the bike gets ridden a lot less). On that bike after shortening the ball end and setting the lever reach to the same amount, front/rear contact point felt identical. Bike 1 has fresher pads and bleeds, and had a nearly instant contact point, after the ball end was set the same.

 

[Happymtb.fr]

Interesting! I have no explanation to your observations, sorry

One question: do you adjust the reach to be the same at the resting position or at the bite point? It is just a preference and both should be close to each other in an ideal scenario but personally I go for similar bite point if the dead strokes differ.

About the perfect position for the MC seals, I guess that you could move the MC forward until the point where you cannot push brake fluid from the caliper to the lever as you normally do when bleeding your brake. What do you think?
I don't know what would happen if the seal blocks only half the timing port... the timing port is already some pretty small holes

 

[Andeh]

I adjust the reach to be the same on the stand, then mess with one of them (invariably the right/rear further outward) to make them feel like they bite at the same point. I'm also right handed and obviously stronger on that side too, so I'm guessing the bite is actually the same but feels further in because of difference in grip strength.

 

[Da Peach]

I imagine doing a combination of adjusting the ball end and the small Alen adjustment for dead stroke do the same thing. The little Alen head adjuster on mine has it such that it is all used up for the shortest throw possible. If I were to “give” a little back on that adjustment, but still max out the ball head adjustment that would prevent the lock up issue.

 

[Nick]

Are you going to Bionol or just Shimano them?

Bump! I found a US source for Bionol and ordered a liter for the garage.

These Kaha brakes continue to AMAZE as far as feel and overall power goes. The bite point adjustment works great and with tweaking of that + reach adjust I'd imagine anyone could dial in these levers to their taste.

I fouled the rear pads doing a bleed and threw in some sintered TRP pads and they're fucking anchors. I'll swap out for the organic pads, for sure.

The adjuster wheel could be a bit easier to access, but it's totally manageable. You can get the throw so minimal that the lever can be quite close to knuckles. That's not my style, FWIW, but worth mentioning.

Running 203mm TRP 2.3 rotors front/rear ... So good.

 

[Andeh]

I imagine doing a combination of adjusting the ball end and the small Alen adjustment for dead stroke do the same thing. The little Alen head adjuster on mine has it such that it is all used up for the shortest throw possible. If I were to “give” a little back on that adjustment, but still max out the ball head adjustment that would prevent the lock up issue.

So I did a little bit of experimenting, and for me personally, setting the ball length to 34.0mm the right side felt a bit quicker than left (at the stock 34.4). 34.1 feels damn close, maybe a hair quicker. Still enough throw that I don't think it will interfere with timing port. I'll give it a ride tomorrow to stress test it.

The original dead stroke didn't really ever bother me too much (if anything I like it in situations where I'm chicken braking - I can pull a little bit out of fear but know I'm not actually slowing down). I just like my left/right levers to feel like they engage at the same point. My favorite feature of Codes was the contact adjuster for that reason.

@Nick how's the lever pull force & definition of bite point compare to some other brakes? I've been curious about the Kaha for a while but there's so few reviews out there I've never taken the plunge. At this point what I'd need in order to switch would be something with the light feel of a Dominion, same total power, but mineral oil and either SRAM or Intend style bleed process. Bonus points if they work with readily available brake pad shapes (SRAM / Shimano), and 2.3mm thick rotors.

 

[Nick]

@Nick how's the lever pull force & definition of bite point compare to some other brakes? I've been curious about the Kaha for a while but there's so few reviews out there I've never taken the plunge. At this point what I'd need in order to switch would be something with the light feel of a Dominion, same total power, but mineral oil and either SRAM or Intend style bleed process. Bonus points if they work with readily available brake pad shapes (SRAM / Shimano), and 2.3mm thick rotors.

To me it feels like a super light pull compared to what I've used (Shimano from 755s > 820s, DHR-Evo) probably comparable to the TRPs which I really love also. I can't compare to Dominion as I haven't tried them. When you can set the bite point where you'd like the reach really becomes advantageous to leverage, vs just being able to literally reach the levers.

I'm not used to the SRAM bleeding edge thing so it took some getting used to. If I could I'd have an external bleed screw fitting on all calipers. Pad shape is V4/TRP 4-piston, so readily available (here at least) and designed for 2.3 rotors. I'm using my previous TRP 203mm rotors with excellent results.

This guy is on to something here. I hope he can scale up and keep quality high.

 

[Subversion_Garage]

I more or less follow what Magura shows in terms of elevating the caliper above the lever. For the front caliper it's obviously pretty easy. For the rear, I have the bike in a repair stand and just rotate it to raise the caliper above the lever. There's typically enough slack in the brake hose that if you unbolt the caliper, you can raise/lower it a few inches to push the last of the air out without making too much of a mess.

It is asinine though, no argument there.

 

[Jm_]

Wow...I've got a nice great firm lever feel and I didn't go nearly as crazy as that. I did let fluid run back out the rear port from the open syringe in the lever...that again seems like the best way to not let air in when closing up the system.

 

[jonKranked]

new gustav's incoming.....

 

[Westy]

I have been riding Hayes Dominions pretty much exclusively for the past year. Last week I would have said they are the best performing brakes I have ever had. But this weekend I hopped on my bike with some old TRP Quadiums on them. The Hayes feel vastly superior in the parking lot test, better initial bite and stiffer lever feel. But when ridden in anger I feel like I had much better braking control with the TRPs. Felt super controlled riding at the edge of traction and was managing to find new tighter lines while actually going faster. Perhaps time to re-evaluate things a bit.

 

[jonKranked]

I have been riding Hayes Dominions pretty much exclusively for the past year. Last week I would have said they are the best performing brakes I have ever had. But this weekend I hopped on my bike with some old TRP Quadiums on them. The Hayes feel vastly superior in the parking lot test, better initial bite and stiffer lever feel. But when ridden in anger I feel like I had much better braking control with the TRPs. Felt super controlled riding at the edge of traction and was managing to find new tighter lines while actually going faster. Perhaps time to re-evaluate things a bit.

maybe just ride angry more often?

 

[Westy]

maybe just ride angry more often?

View attachment 213851

He is all the way over on the East Coast. I will stick to bikes.

 

[Subversion_Garage]

new gustav's incoming.....

Looking forward to the reviews

 

[Jm_]

The MT8s were adequate in the XC race tonight. Not spectacular...but hey, no ****ing wandering bite point. It is mind-blowing how high-quality the caliper is and then how shit the lever is. I know it's been said many times...but every time I think back at em...it's still kind of mind-blowing. Hope Gustav is better.

 

[Milleratio]

Asking for a friend: can I mod a XTR brakepad to fit Saint caliber if I drill a new pin hole?

 

[sethimus]

nc04 to saint?

 

[Milleratio]

nc04 to saint?

Yeah! The size looks the same but... Quite often the XTR is on sale on local spors store but Saint seldom as it's a rare one for normal consumer.

 

[sethimus]

Yeah! The size looks the same but... Quite often the XTR is on sale on local spors store but Saint seldom as it's a rare one for normal consumer.

i‘ll check later at work, imho they have the same layout

 

[sethimus]

same hole, no need to diy anything

 

[mykel]

Dominion A4's.

Need new pads. I have burned through my stock of the organic T106 pads.
I like them for our mostly flat local trails, quiet and no sustained braking, so no problems with heat and glazing. Don't last overly long though.

So, what do I order next, T100 Sintered, ( How noisy are the T00 Sintered pads? ), T106 Organic ( could go old school and run one of each in each caliper ), or something else?

What are you guys running in your Dominions?

 

[Andeh]

I've run: T100s, T106s, Galfer Green, and Galfer Purple.

I generally find what works best for me is to run semi-metallic pads up front, metallic rear. So in Hayes terms, T100 front, T106 rear. The 106 is noisy when wet but fine otherwise. In Galfer terms, Green front, Purple rear. Both are quiet all around, but Green vanishes quick in the rear.

 

[canadmos]

I have a set of T106 pads that I could let go for cheap. I purchased them from someone on Pinkbike, perhaps under the influence, and didn't realize they weren't the metal ones.

I like the T100 pads in mine. They don't make much noise on my bike, except if it's wet and they haven't been used in a little bit of trail.

I can't remember when I put those pads in, but they've last strong for all of last year and this. That included a few days at Bromont, a week out west and some shuttling near Blue. The rears could probably be replaced now.

Girlfriend has MTX red pads in hers, with no complaints. Don't think they've been punished too much, though.

 

[mykel]

I have a set of T106 pads that I could let go for cheap. I purchased them from someone on Pinkbike, perhaps under the influence, and didn't realize they weren't the metal ones.

I like the T100 pads in mine. They don't make much noise on my bike, except if it's wet and they haven't been used in a little bit of trail.

I can't remember when I put those pads in, but they've last strong for all of last year and this. That included a few days at Bromont, a week out west and some shuttling near Blue. The rears could probably be replaced now.

Girlfriend has MTX red pads in hers, with no complaints. Don't think they've been punished too much, though.

Kinda interested in the MTX Reds. Have read some good stuff, but also a couple not so good. Where did ya get them from?

 

[canadmos]

Kinda interested in the MTX Reds. Have read some good stuff, but also a couple not so good. Where did ya get them from?

The bike repair shop at Revelstoke

 

[zebulon13]

anyone did maxima lever cura4 caliper ?!

 

[Ploutre]

anyone did maxima lever cura4 caliper ?!

Did DRT with Cura4. Not a good mix, but I don't know if it was because of the pretty sticky pistons in the caliper or just the fact the 9mm piston in the DRT master cylinder is just too small for those pistons in the caliper. When you are used to steel pistons like in DRT or Maximas, it's hard to go back to the plastic ones that just stick to anything...

Lever feel was very soft, veeeeery soft, and very hard to know when the brake would bite. Somewhere around 3 to 4cm of total lever travel, and braking was happening in between. When they bit, or when you pulled very hard, it would drop an anchor, but that was frightening. Oh and the Cura caliper (or Galfer Pro pads) didn't like the heat at all. Howling even before I got halfway down the mountain.

Fun experiment, wouldn't recomment unless maybe with brand new caliper ? Tried getting my hands on pistons and seals to freshen them up, as I got them 2nd hand, but it was impossible to get them from the distributor.

I used Goodridge hoses so it was easy to set up at the caliper.

Also tried with MT5 calipers, those were almost new, and power was really nice compared to the full DRT setup I had, but the free throw was too long to my liking. I could get it closer by massaging the pistons out, but that would last 2 or 3 runs maximum and then it was back to the long freethrow. Might have been better with MT7 caliper, as they supposedly have a different seal position or seal material, but the MT5s were cheaper.

 

[JB450]

Also if anyone wants to know Zrace/IIIPro/Onirii m4 calipers work really well with the newer 100 range servo wave levers.
Stock lever mc is way too big, and lever too short to get any decent power.

Add the servowave, and they get proper pokey!
But the 1piece calipers are more 'pretty' machined than burly, and as some of the other German engineers reviews they can actually flex measurably under high loads.

As a supplement/offshoot to this, I have been running Tektro HD-M745 4 piston brakes for years, they were a cheap upgrade from the level t's that came on my 2018 Smuggler.

Mostly they were fine but the bite was a little weak (my local trails aren't the steepest or the longest). I tried some servowave xt's levers with the Tektro calipers and they were much better but leaking MC and wandering bite points kind of put me off them.

More recently I purchased some of the zrace levers to pair with the Tektro calipers. This combo (Zratros?) has been much more reliable than the "Shitros", and the power is definitely an upgrade from standard and pretty similar to the Shimano lever feel.

NOTE: Probably not the sort of brake combo many would be looking to emulate, but just putting my experience with fairly left field options out here.

 

[Kanye West]

I'm trying not to sift through 84 pages of this thread for info, so maybe someone has a quick answer.

I've got a bike that has SRAM Code Bronze Stealth brakes. Rear caliper fitment on this frame is pretty limited because of the seatstay, so looking for options that keep the same caliper. My primary gripe is the lack of freeplay adjustment at the lever. Is there a MC swap that would be sensible with keeping the same calipers? Or is there a way to swap lever blades/cams around to get a freeplay adjustment?

 

[troy]

SRAM Code Bronze

CODE BRONZE!

 

[Happymtb.fr]

I have 3 pairs of Formula Cura 2. Two are fairly new, maybe one or two years old while the third is much older like 5 or 6. The oldest one has a much shorter lever throw than the newest ones. I start to wonder if the piston seals at the caliper got stiffer over time resulting in less pad retraction and consequently also a shorter lever throw.
What do you reckon?

 

[Udi]

I've noticed that happens with age and also when they sit for long periods without use. Happens on some Formula, some SRAM/Avid, probably some others.

There are two possible causes: increase in fluid quantity or reduction of internal volume - whether by moisture absorption/ingress (thus more fluid) or seal aging/swelling resulting in dimensional change (decreased volume). Either way, it's not a desirable decrease in throw as it is accompanied by pressurisation of MC reservoir, generally needs to be reset by letting out fluid, ideally with re-bleed and new seals.

Not sure of the exact mechanism but I've observed what you describe - partly why I believe you only find out if a brake is a great brake after both a) a few years of hard use and b) some long periods without use. But 5-6 years is a good run!

 

[Happymtb.fr]

Thanks @Udi !
I recognise the "sitting too long without use" for some even older Formula DOT brakes sitting on my GF's 26" hardtail which is gathering dust in a corner of the bike shed! On a hot day both wheels are locked

The Curas mentioned earlier sit on my trail bike and have had regular use on other bikes before. The rear one was bled last autumn when I moved them to a Tallboy frame if my memory serves me well... (this set has the quick connect hose so that I might not have needed to bleed them)

Anyhow, since Formula has spare parts, I will get some fresh seals and rebuild these brakes

 

[Rockland]

I also have (3) sets on Curas in use.
This stuff does wonders for the caliper pistons, if the seals are not too far aged.

TS-2-34-04 compliant grease

 

[zebulon13]

Did DRT with Cura4. Not a good mix, but I don't know if it was because of the pretty sticky pistons in the caliper or just the fact the 9mm piston in the DRT master cylinder is just too small for those pistons in the caliper. When you are used to steel pistons like in DRT or Maximas, it's hard to go back to the plastic ones that just stick to anything...

Lever feel was very soft, veeeeery soft, and very hard to know when the brake would bite. Somewhere around 3 to 4cm of total lever travel, and braking was happening in between. When they bit, or when you pulled very hard, it would drop an anchor, but that was frightening. Oh and the Cura caliper (or Galfer Pro pads) didn't like the heat at all. Howling even before I got halfway down the mountain.

Fun experiment, wouldn't recomment unless maybe with brand new caliper ? Tried getting my hands on pistons and seals to freshen them up, as I got them 2nd hand, but it was impossible to get them from the distributor.

I used Goodridge hoses so it was easy to set up at the caliper.

Also tried with MT5 calipers, those were almost new, and power was really nice compared to the full DRT setup I had, but the free throw was too long to my liking. I could get it closer by massaging the pistons out, but that would last 2 or 3 runs maximum and then it was back to the long freethrow. Might have been better with MT7 caliper, as they supposedly have a different seal position or seal material, but the MT5s were cheaper.

tried maxima black lever with cura 4 calipers
the lever travel is too much yes but it's extremely powerfull , power pads trickstuff and lewis 2.3mm rotor

waiting for lewis pump for the bite point tuning

i think it will be a good combination

 

[Jm_]

Well I have no idea what kind of pads Magura put on my SL brakes...but I can tell you they don't work for shit in heavy rain.

 

[djjohnr]

I'd like to try these out - https://www.singletracks.com/mtb-gear/this-aftermarket-brake-upgrade-promises-to-stretch-bleed-intervals-and-adds-contact-adjustment-to-more-brakes/

 

[Nick]

Bump! I found a US source for Bionol and ordered a liter for the garage.

These Kaha brakes continue to AMAZE as far as feel and overall power goes. The bite point adjustment works great and with tweaking of that + reach adjust I'd imagine anyone could dial in these levers to their taste.

I fouled the rear pads doing a bleed and threw in some sintered TRP pads and they're fucking anchors. I'll swap out for the organic pads, for sure.

The adjuster wheel could be a bit easier to access, but it's totally manageable. You can get the throw so minimal that the lever can be quite close to knuckles. That's not my style, FWIW, but worth mentioning.

Running 203mm TRP 2.3 rotors front/rear ... So good.

Another few dozen rides and I know that these are the best brakes I've ever used.
I'm such a fan of these KAHA brakes that I decided to become a reseller. I won't spam up this thread but you can find more info in the Classifieds.

For Sale - Radic KAHA brakes, new in stock.

Radic KAHA brakes. In stock and shipping now. $721 USD. KAHA are both incredibly powerful and incredibly adjustable. All are setup for Mineral Oil use and have 860mm front / 1750mm rear brake lines. All BLACK available. BLACK/SILVER available. 4 Piston caliper NEW UPDATED Low friction...

ridemonkey.bikemag.com

All in stock in Colorado, all shipping to US and Canada.

 

[jonKranked]

Another few dozen rides and I know that these are the best brakes I've ever used.
I'm such a fan of these KAHA brakes that I decided to become a reseller. I won't spam up this thread but you can find more info in the Classifieds.

For Sale - Radic KAHA brakes, new in stock.

Radic KAHA brakes. In stock and shipping now. $721 USD. KAHA are both incredibly powerful and incredibly adjustable. All are setup for Mineral Oil use and have 860mm front / 1750mm rear brake lines. All BLACK available. BLACK/SILVER available. 4 Piston caliper NEW UPDATED Low friction...

ridemonkey.bikemag.com

All in stock in Colorado, all shipping to US and Canada.

hmmmmm

 

[Andeh]

I'd like to try these out - https://www.singletracks.com/mtb-gear/this-aftermarket-brake-upgrade-promises-to-stretch-bleed-intervals-and-adds-contact-adjustment-to-more-brakes/

Yeah, I'll probably get one of those for my Hayes when available to try out.